A town needs a Doctor, and Carberry has been fortunate
to have had several notable Medical Professionals.
Dr. F. W. Shaw was the first doctor to locate in Carberry. In fact he
was here before Carberry was created by the CPR. He arrived in 1879 and
soon he opened an office in the settlement known as Fairview a few
kilometres to the north. He had an office on a site opposite the
old Fairview school grounds, near where Smith and McColl had a store,
and Charles Malone, a tinsmith shop.
He soon moved to the new town, and later worked out of the Shaw Block
where he also opened a Drug Store. He wasn’t in Carberry long, but
early settlers would have considered themselves very fortunate to have
a Doctor nearby.
Dr. John Murray Eaton arrived in Carberry after the town was well
established in 1891.
He was born on August 5, 1861, in Ontario. Ontario and was a graduate
of Trinity University. In addition to providing the medical services a
town needs, he was active in local government and in the business
community.
Dr. Eaton was the First Mayor after incorporation in1905.
He formed the Arabian Medicine Co. with Druggist A.E. Munson and they
operated the City Drug Store. It was common in those days for Doctors
to also have Drug Stores.
Dr. Eaton and his wife Emma Louise (Scott) moved to Toronto in 1911 and
he died on April 8. 1939.
The Hospital
Hospitals, as we know them today, are a relatively recent fixture in
prairie towns. Health care was delivered by Doctors sometimes aided by
Nurses who tended to patients in their homes. Births were generally
handled by midwives. Sometimes a small “Cottage Hospital” would
be operated by a Doctor. A midwife might open a “Nursing Home for
expectant mothers.
The Fox Memorial Hospital of the Town of Carberry and the Municipality
of North Cypress was opened in 1949, giving this area the first
hospital facilities since the "Carberry Cottage Hospital" closed in the
early 1900's.
Mrs. Mina Fox saw the need for a hospital in Carberry and approached
Dr. G. T. McNeill about it. She generously donated the land and
$50,000.00 as a memorial to her late husband, Thomas Fox, a district
pioneer.
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